New Avengers #9

by kanchilr1 on August 28, 2013

The Team
Writer Jonathan Hickman Artist Mike Deodato


Infinity is finally underway, which means that Avengers and New Avengers are going to be heavily tied into those events. So far the comic book has been building to this massive storyline since its first pages. The Builders and Gardeners have been tormenting this team since the team first banded together. There was also a big moment with all of the Infinity Gems shattering in the third issue. The slow burn towards this event was tantalizing for some, but let those fears be gone. In this installment, readers finally get some extra screen time with the Black Order of Thanos. These new characters have all seemed really intriguing and those interested in them have only gotten the slightest tease in the last issue of this title. Writer Jonathan Hickman is really playing this event out methodically. He seems to know where all of these pieces go and directly where to put them. The first piece of Infinity did not quite move the plot forward in any massive direction, but it put some big players in place and teased a first glimpse of The Mad Titan. The previous part of the main Avengers title set the Skrulls and battle with the builders into play. The heavy hitters are now in space, so it would make sense that the New Avengers would be focused more heavily in the setting of earth.


This entry of the story features another cryptic tease towards a giant battle that will soon be incoming within these pages. It is also really great to see more of Thanos and interaction with the his servants. These teases of where everyone in the series is, and where they are headed towards is fascinating. Jonathan Hickman will never put his cards down and show exactly what is happening without a slight card trick. The end of this issue in particular is something that nobody will see coming, and really know what is happening. The genius of the writing is that readers are not quite supposed to know anything about what is actually coming quite yet. The hunt for the last of the Infinity Gems is on, and it seems that there will be a clear winner and loser of this fight.


Mike Deodato is a very polarizing artist that has been working in the industry a long time. I tend to fall on the side of not appreciating him very much. Unfortunately, he is constantly drawing some of my favorite books at Marvel. My biggest problem with the artist falls with his storytelling, the images on the page all seem incredibly static. The reader never gets the sense that anything in these pages is actually moving. Characters are heavily draped in shadow and not very pleasing to the eyes. In addition there is some strange three dimensional rendering that pulls me out of the surroundings in the title. If these are things that you do not mind in a comic book, you may very well enjoy what is presented here. In some other cases, this story is worth reading for the writing not the art.


This is the strongest issue of New Avengers since the third installment. Jonathan Hickman paints an interesting threat to our heroes that seems to plague the world. Even within a brawl such as this one, there is still a mystery lying within these pages that readers will desperately be trying to uncover.

Our Score:

8/10

A Look Inside